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The Situation of Red Ink
Posted by The Situationist Staff on June 4, 2010
Last week, NPR's All Things Considered included a story by Guy Raz about California psychology professor Abraham Rutchick's study of how people use red and blue pens to grade papers. Rutchick tells host Raz that the red graders were way tougher than those who used blue pens. Here are some excerpts from the interview (which you can listen at this link).
* * *
GUY RAZ, host: Tell me how you went about studying this theory.
Prof. RUTCHICK: The basic idea is that throughout our lives we get papers handed back to us from teachers with a bunch of corrections on them, and typically they're in red ink.
* * *
Prof. RUTCHICK: That happens enough times over the course of our lives that the idea of red ink and red pens and error is in correction, you know, gets sort of lodged in our brains. And so it struck us that the very acts of picking up such a pen if you're using a red pen would activate those ideas again when you go to create something later on.
To test this, what we did is we did a very simple experiment with two conditions. We randomly assigned people to either use a red pen or a pen of a different color. And they, in the first study, simply completed a series of words. So, for instance, F-A-I-blank…
* * *
Prof. RUTCHICK: It could be L if you're using a red pen . . . that seems more likely.
* * *
Prof. RUTCHICK: And if you're using, you know, perhaps a blue pen or you're not having failure on the brain, you might write fair, right? And so it could be one or the other. And the degree to which people complete those words is sort of associated with the degree to which this concept has been activated in their brains.
RAZ: So people with red pens tended to write an L at the end of that word and people with blue pens would write an R?
Prof. RUTCHICK: Precisely.
RAZ: Did any of your subjects actually get to grade papers with different colored pens?
Prof. RUTCHICK: Yes. That was just our first study. And our second, they evaluated an essay that had a bunch of errors in it and they were told to mark as many mistakes as they found and they marked more errors using red pens than using blue pens.
RAZ: So when they used blue pens they found fewer errors in…
Prof. RUTCHICK: Fewer errors, yeah, about 19 in this particular essay versus about 24. And our third study, which was really the most striking one, this was one where the essays had no actual objective errors. There were no errors in grammar or spelling; just a bunch of sub-optimal word choices.
RAZ: Everybody had the same essay?
Prof. RUTCHICK: Precisely. So each person comes in they come in individually, of course they each get one essay to read. It's the same essay for everyone. And just before they start, they're given a pen with which to do the corrections and mark the grade and that pen is either red or blue. And we found in this third study that the people with red pens assigned lower grades than the people with blue pens.
RAZ: How wide was the gap between those who had the blue and those who had the red pens? I mean, how wide was the disparity?
Prof. RUTCHICK: It was about four-point to 100-point scale. So the difference between a B-minus and a C-plus.
RAZ: So it was that big simply because of the color of their pens?
Prof. RUTCHICK: Yeah, it is. I mean, these are subjective errors, in a sense. So people are reading this essay and they're deciding kind of freely; there's no obvious answer that this is right and this is wrong. They're kind of deciding how good is this thing? When you have that kind of subjectivity in grading, all sorts of little things can influence you one way or another.
RAZ: What does this tell us about red pens?
Prof. RUTCHICK: Well, it tells us that they're a source of influence that we're usually unaware of. They certainly activate these ideas of failure and wrongness and correction.
RAZ: I mean, how much do you think this is about associations, really? Because to say, you know, all school districts in America all of a sudden said: Okay, all papers have to mark up papers in blue ink. After 20 years or so, wouldn't kids start associating blue ink with marked up papers?
Prof. RUTCHICK: In my view, it is mostly due to the association that's built up over time. It wouldn't happen immediately, of course, but in a couple of decades, as you suggest, that's what would happen. There are a few reasons to believe that maybe red is special in this regard.
They did a study a few years back in the journal Nature where Olympians in combat sports who were wearing red actually were more likely to win. And the author suggested that had to do with red activating aggression, dominance and testosterone.
* * *
You can listen to the interview or read the entire transcript here. It includes Professor Rutchick's explanation for why he continues to use a red pen when grading his own students' work. For a sample of related Situationist posts, see "The Situation of Being Green," "The Color of Sex Appeal," "The Primitive Appeal of The Color Red," and "The (Unconscious) Situation of our Consciousness – Part I, Part II, Part III, & Part IV."
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This entry was posted on June 4, 2010 at 11:18 am and is filed under Education, Embodied Cognition, Implicit Associations, Social Psychology. Tagged: Education, grading, red. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
2 Responses to "The Situation of Red Ink"
June 6, 2010 at 4:02 pm
[…] Why Red Ink Graders are Tougher – Via The Situationist – Last week, NPR's All Things Considered included a story by Guy Raz about California psychology professor Abraham Rutchick's study of how people use red and blue pens to grade papers. Rutchick tells host Raz that the red graders were way tougher than those who used blue pens. Here are some excerpts from the interview (which you can listen at this link). […]
Dr X said
On the Rorschach, red parts of the blots are often associated with blood, which is, in turn, associated with perceptions of aggression and injury. Perhaps there is a deeper association between aggression (drawing blood) and grading among those who grade using a red pen?
Just a thought.

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Saturday, February 6, 2010
We Aren't Ready for Some Football
While we're calling this a bipartisan party, I think we all know that that isn't the case. I mean, Congressman "Joseph" Cao, who represents parts of New Orleans, is invited, but only because we learned he was snowed in and couldn't get to Miami, and because in order for this to be considered an official White House event we needed someone of Southeast Asian descent to be here. This way, the party can be paid for using taxpayer dollars instead of out of Big Guy's pocket.
So we've got Cao coming and then we've got people we actually want to spend time with. Folks like Rep. Xavier Becerra (he takes care of our Latino quota), some Democrats from Indiana, half the Cabinet, including Bruno, and Sen. Chris Dodd, because we know he'll bring enough beer to keep the par-tay going. Bruno, who spent most of the week in Miami hanging bunting in the stadium, brought back some cool decorations to spruce up the room.
But the highlight of the day will be watching Big Guy do his pre-game interview with CBS News diva Katie Couric. Not because he has any great insights into the game, but because he's going to announce an Executive Order that will make a dramatic change in the way Super Bowl Sunday unfolds. He's really the only leader with the vision and ability to pull it off. See, instead of settling the game on the field, he's inviting the Colts and Saints to the White House to negotiate the winner of the Super Bowl over beers and organic hummus dip.
By doing it this way, it gives him at least eight extra hours to keep working for the American people instead of watching a game, and it means the American people have that much more time to be focused on finding jobs or earning more income to pay their taxes. We all win. Well, except for the team that doesn't negotiate well enough to win the championship.
52 comments:
Will the Big Guy win the Lombardi trophy to go with his Nobel Prize?ReplyDelete
Hope u weren't injured in the falling tree branch incident.Too bad your boss wasnt hit on the noggin.OF course that would only damage the tree branch.ReplyDelete
Another American tradition down the drain.....ReplyDelete
I am pretty sure that he will also insure that racial parity exists on all teams by moving some of the Saints players onto the Colts squad. Maybe he will even trade quarterbacks. I guess if he's going to weigh in on a BCS playoff it would be a good idea for him to get yet more hands on training for the job.ReplyDelete
Maybe snowmaggedon will keep everyone home. BG will be stuck alone with his jihaddess.ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
[TP] "We've been using the room as a home entertainment center, since ..." WE HAD NO IDEA WHAT ELSE TO TO WITH IT.ReplyDelete
Hi, Debbdi :D
Hey, Ellen, you've got a point there -- Bruno's going in at fullback for sure.
Say, is Bruno going to join the Army or something? Because I think he -->(those earrings and that lipstick aren't fooling anybody, baby) is. Uh, huh. THAT's why the (Ahem!) Don't Ask Don't Tell policy is again being threatened with repeal.
RE: Twittering .... Who's questionning your religion and your citizenship, B. Hussein Dopebama?
Religion: MUSLIM
Place of Birth: KENYA
The issue isn't mere "citizenship," Peach, it's that you ARE NOT A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES [FYI: that's of AMERICA].
Promote true conservatives before the
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So, THAT's what your name stands for, clever Prep -- took me this long to figure it out! Heh, heh.
Preptile!!! How come you just removed that great post?!ReplyDelete
Who dat you think your foolin TP ?ReplyDelete
We know Well Which Town The Won Wants winning.
Wee wagerers,er,& wanton woe wishers who wouldn't want da 'who dats' winning,
well,wizzen-up wasted ones.
Welfare states win this wampum which is why one woulndn't want to wager the wigwam.
With this administration N.O.thing is left to chance.Just like with the "stimulus",bet on the Blue state.
That would coincide w The Weasely Wonder Won's wishes here.One pledged the 'Blues' state a win and another 'windfall' to a certain Senator whose name like her State's abreviation starts w the letters 'La'.
Wonder which one ?
I won't tell.
Will the Teleprompter tell us ?
Promptly ?
Betty Ann, WHERE ARE YOU?ReplyDelete
Okay, Mr. Preptile. Hocus-focus. I can't tell the difference between the original and the newer post -- anyway, glad it's back.ReplyDelete
Just Housekepping TWW.ReplyDelete
Thanks for the 'precious' P list above.
I imagine pom poms punching out those Ps from our 'Peanut Gallery',and thankfully someone else did the peeing there because I am not always up to it.
Just get all peed out,altho never at sunrise it seems,when this Rooster always has Cock a Doodling to do .BTW,unable to tell if Chris is Hen or Rooster but I commend the above produce.
You shy violets just need to produce a little more is all.None of us wants to sit through another production meeting.
I've been praying for you, Prep. A few years ago, my husband had a perfectly positive post-op result for such a psituation -- what a RELIEF. Difficult to decide what to do, I'm sure. Mr. T knew where every sani-can and outhouse and public restroom was for 60 miles around. It was Pitiful. Nice to be able to get a good night's sleep. This has been much too Personal. I won't let it haPPen again aPologies.
TOTUS- just get off in the corner and enjoy it by yourself... :-)ReplyDelete
I predict there will be a collective changing of channels or a massive muting of volume when the little zero starts his interview.ReplyDelete
Well, whoever else will be watching the Superbowl with Big Guy, it's a sure bet there won't be any Navy corpse-men there....ReplyDelete
So Obama was on TV before the Super Bowl. Nothing new there, presidents have weighed in on who they thought would win or their favorite teams. But instead Obama with the cooperation of liberal media shill Katie Couric, start talking about the stupid healthcare bill. Honest to God they are going to keep yammering about it until we give in just to shut them up. TOTUS please save us. Let him start reading the phone book or something, anything except more discussion on this failed, expensive policy.ReplyDelete
Dear Totus,ReplyDelete
Please tell us what's really going with the "corpseman" that the Big Guy is having trouble pronounciating.
[Cinderella] "I predict there will be [a brown- out exactly 4 minutes into the interview, when 100 million refrigerators kick on after we all stood there awhile and decided what to get for a snack] when the little zero starts his interview."ReplyDelete
(nice one - :D)
"Little Zero," LOL.
Mr. Devine, LOL, well, he WOULD have, but he couldn't remember how to say it. All his requests for the "Lum Birdy Trophy" (he figured it was for being a super-great golfer and named for that famous Asian golfer, Mr. Lum) were filed in Axelrod's cabinet under: TO BE SHREDDED (along with video of the "punch drunk" and the "gallows humor" and the "corpseman" aaaaaaaaaand TONS of other junk JUST LIKE THAT. D'oh!)
[Ellen] "Let him start reading the phone book or something, anything... ." LOL.
Just play for "that one," a cleverly edited recording of Sarah Palin saying, "Reader of the Free World, eh? Prove it, you misguided HOCKEY PUCK!"
Barry [purse lips, sniff, sniff, huff, puff]: Prove it? Okay, I'll prove it, you pig in lipstick. Hand me that phone book Giggly, -- NOT THE WHITE PAGES! I didn't sit in Rev. Wright's black supremacist church for 20 years for nuthin'. ......................[looks up, confused] ... This thing written in, uh, Austrian or, uh, something?
Giggly [turns it right side up]
Barry: O. [starts in reading.......]: AAAAA Bail Bonds, 555-123-4567. AAAAA ... .
[Outside, in the hall, a line of conservatives (and not a few H. Rotten PUMA supporters) stretches all the way down the stairs and out the back door to a semi-truck and trailer FULL OF PHONEBOOKS -- they are passing them along the line whispering, "Keep them coming, folks we've got enough reading here to keep that mouth going until at least summer of 2011"]
(Above "Keep Him Reading" project could also be called the "Recycle Your Old Phonebooks and Heat the Eastern Seaboard" project.)ReplyDelete
So. The 'West will be stunned' on the 11th. If we haven't already seen the beginning of the end for Obama, we sure will in three days. If something happens, it will be an easy and plausible matter to blame Obama for his overt politicization of (and laissez faire attitude) toward terrorism. While Obama was putting his own branded hood ornaments on GM cars and scolding people daring to vacation in Las Vegas, we were being targeted...again.ReplyDelete
I pray that nothing happens in this country or elsewhere on the 11th. But I'm steeling myself for how I'll feel if it does.
I'm a rooster, BTW. @ChrisNH for Twitterers.ReplyDelete
I don't know if you've seen this one but it's funny and a bit scary too! Green PoliceReplyDelete
John's Space
[Chris] "I'm a rooster, BTW." SO! You DO read other people's (Preptile's at least :D) posts! Rooster was my guess -- but I didn't want to say it out loud.ReplyDelete
Hey, John! I can't watch vid on my dial-up here, but if it's the Superbowl Sunday Audi ad -- it IS scary. And I'm glad. Best anti-EnviroNAZI ad I've ever seen! (German car, to boot!) All it made me think of was, "I HATE those Environazis!"
Oooo, noooooo, I said the "h" word. Well, while I use "detest" in writing, when I'm just pedalling away on the treadmill in front of the TV, I say, "HATE!" not "detest." Shrug. Still a free country -- YES!
Well,welcome aboard fellow Barnyard Buddy.ReplyDelete
One will resist all those uber Rooster urges to engage in any Cockfighting,providing that is,that certain young spring 'Chick a Dees'(like that "Great" Grandaughter the occasionally 'endearitating'Bambi Ghandi),
are left alone.
Poor Corpseman Brashard.
People now think he is a dead duck or tranfered into mortuary services .
Do not count on our PressCorpse fleshing this out though,as all are vacationing after the exhaustive 'Groundhog' reportage season.
Also some are preparing ,hopefully,prize winning coverage regarding the arrival of a certain mysterious Mr E. Bunny.
Possibly pregnant Presidential Mistresses will be missed,as usual,(as Edwards himself is also, 'reportedly',discovering on his Haitian
'Sexual addiction' rehabilitation tour).
Was all this Corpse kerfuffle,TP, having anything to do w RahmBO's buried 'bone collection' ?
Was once reliable liberal Bill Press, really the 'Corpse' in question in this MASSive mix up ? Was the Undertaking UnderToad himself involved in this?
Is he in on it....is he,eh,TP ?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Maybe we should ask those "Pulitzer Prize Performers" at the National Enquirer.
This particular 'Peas Prize Participant' would find that particularly pleasing.
Well partly anyway Pardners.
Peas Out.
Oh, I absolutely read other posts! I think this site is great! I feel like I'm 'among friends!'ReplyDelete
RE: SuperBowl PreGame Presidential Interview....Did the Perky One give the "Little Zero" a kiss a la one Miss Diane I'm Horny Sawyer? I was busy reading a book, bless MY heart.ReplyDelete
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Yes, indeed, Chris, your posts clearly establish that you are "one of the gang."ReplyDelete
Unlike this nut ^ . Nokta, bless your heart [Hi, Susan! :D] go sober up and (if you're smart) come back under another name. There is no such thing or person as "futball" -- no one here knows what in the world "mirc" is and there is NO WAY I'm going to test the strength of my feeble firewall by clicking on your link!
BETTY ANN! I'm so glad to see you. We've lost several cool people (I won't start naming, for I KNOW I'll inadvertently omit someone) largely (I think) due to TOTUS' loooooooooooong posting delays -- glad you are not among them.
Love your UNvarnished, RIGHT ON comment.
Hey, Prep, nice one. ["Of corpse," I can just hear you say (eye roll) (:S)]
TOTUS, I was just wondering whether you were actually a Saints fan or not?ReplyDelete
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There are myriad varieties of grapes and blends used to make wines in the world. So what exactly is a varietal? This article explores the differences between varietal wines, wines categorized by appellation and what this tells us about a wine's personality.
Wines are described by how dry, acidic, oaky, and tannic they are. What do those words actually mean? Learn how to identify and describe wine personality.
Wine labels can be full of confusing terms. This guide will help you sort some of them out.
There are three basic steps to wine tasting. Sight is only secondary. While some experts may think this is an important part of the experience, I believe that it is not as critical in smelling and tasting.
While rules for matching food with wine are not absolute, they can certainly improve your enjoyment. A bad pairing can still be a good experience, but a great pairing can bring out the best in both the food and the wine.
Wine and cheese have long been a traditional combination. It is important to pair the right wine with the right cheese.
The best wine to cool a spicy meal is a slightly sweet white wine. Off-dry Riesling is one of the best wines for the job, but there are several considerations to take into account.
Navigating German wines can be intimidating at first but with these tips you will be able to decipher labels and know what you're buying and drinking without taking any language lessons.
Italy is split into numerous wine growing regions. Wine is a way of life in Italy and is served with most meals. This is a good start for navigating some of the Italian wines out there.
Brunello is a special wine in many ways. It can be rich and perfumed, yet brawny, and also elegant all simultaneously. You probably wouldn't pick a Brunello for simple sipping. Depending on the producer and the style, the flavors can come out quite different. It is a complex wine.
Dessert wines are especially sweet wines, usually from late harvest grapes. Fortified wines are wines that have extra alcohol added. There are several kinds of each of these wines.
Who invented Champagne? The French say it was Dom Perignon but others have suggested that it was actually the English who invented it.
A quick guide to storing, handling, and opening wine.
Rioja and Cava are popular exports from Spain but there is so much more that Spanish wines have to offer. Learn about the main regions and grapes of Spain and their designated marks of quality.
Port may be the most famous wine produced by Portugal, but it is in no way the only worthy wine. Notably, Madeira, another fortified wine like Port, is also from Portugal. Portugal also produces other varieties of red, white, and rose wines.
Ordering wine at a business meal can be a challenge. There are a few things you need to keep in mind but most of all keep it simple and middle of the road.
The wine list of a restaurant can give information about the quality of the wine program at the establishment. There are clues that can tell you which restaurants are good for exploring new wines and which you may want to avoid.
People enjoy wine more when they think it is more expensive. As long as the wine is a good wine, most people can't tell the difference between a $10 bottle, a $50 bottle, and a $150 bottle.
So how do you know at what temperature a wine needs to be served? My philosophy is to keep it simple and do what works for you. There are some rules of thumb but you really don't need to be too concerned about degrees and numbers.
Aging wine can be a bit of a balancing act. But if you can leave your precious little bottles quietly resting in your cellar long enough, you will be delighted to see how the wine evolves and which subtle flavors and aromas come out at the right moment.
The four methods for keeping an open bottle of wine from going bad are to keep it cool, keep it with less air, pump the air out of it, or use preserving gases.
Thanksgiving can be tough to pair foods and so many different taste choices with your wines. Here are some tips to make your family members happy before the tryptophan from the turkey kicks in.
Sparkling wines are usually reserved for festive occasions. There's no reason why it must be this way. Bubbly drinks can be enjoyed through a meal, and there are many reasons to try it.
Salads can be confusing when it comes to deciding which wines goes best with them. Learn how to select wine for salads and the best ways to make a salad dressing that goes well with wine.
Wine is frequently blamed for causing headaches. While scientists are not sure exactly what the direct cause may be, there are several theories. Contrary to popular belief, sulfites are likely not the problem. There are several things you can try to avoid a wine-induced headache.
If you know how to make the right connections, you can enjoy wine and chocolate on a whole new level. Learn which wines do the trick and how best to highlight chocolates without putting the pucker in your wine.
People describe wine using words like "spicy" and "earthy." The meaning is just a description of what the taste and smells remind you of. Read this article to learn how to describe wine like the pros.
A wine's legs refers to the way it drips down the inside of the glass after you swirl the wine. In the past this was used as a measure of the quality of the wine, but the belief has lost favor. Don't ogle the legs, but focus on taste and smell.
Argentina and Chile are both good climates for wine grapes. Both countries are renowned for their reds, while also producing several notable white wines. While Argentina produces wine on a similar scale to the U.S., Chilean wines were nearly unheard of outside of Chile until very recently.
As a seemingly "low-profile" wine, Rosé often gets a bad rap. What is a Rosé? Why have some European producers fought to preserve its legacy? Why I believe Rosé is so versatile.
French wines are considered the best in the world. One reason is because they have standards that wines must meet in order to be allowed to have certain titles on their labels. They also have a wide variety of grape growing climates. Each region of France has its own wine characteristics.
Chateauneuf du Pape is one of the biggest wine growing locations in France. Named for the move of the Pope to Avignon in the 14th century, it produces exceptional red and white wines.
If you don't have the right kind of corkscrew, even a pro can be let down if the right tools aren't used when opening a bottle of wine. You don't have to spend a fortune; you just have to know what works best and how to use it.
It's the third Thursday of November. Wine drinkers around the world are celebrating the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau. Where is it from, what is it and why is it celebrated?
A lot of people like to stick with only the wines that they know. There's nothing wrong with enjoying what you like, but in order to more fully appreciate wines and discover their hidden qualities, step out and try something new.
Getting a bottle of Schramsberg brings me back to memories of visiting the winery and meeting the people there who work so hard to preserve their traditions and legacy. And having spent the past month reliving so many moments from my travels over the years, viewing old photos and blog posts, I cannot think of a better way to celebrate these memories than with my Schramsberg.
A change in the season is a reason to try new wines al fresco; features white bordeaux and a very young malbec.
It was last month during a road trip to Napa when I learned to never again question the motives of my sometimes confused, often snippy navigation system (I call her 'Nav'). Sure it provides directions, but it just might lead you to a fantastic experience! As we trekked through wine country on assignment taking photos for my new wine travel guide, we were doing great on time (made it from LA to Napa in record time on the 5). We were on our way to Hess Winery; southwest of the town of Napa up into the hills of Mt. Veeder. Then we went off course; almost off road. Somewhere after the 29, the Nav sent us on a small winding country road. Not that unusual in Napa really. And heck we thought that this could be a shortcut. Cautiously hugging the two lane road we kept on going and going through dense woods and careful to mind the flora and fauna as we drove. (Does she know where we are going?) After a 20 minute ride, the road then ended at a large gate with no trespassing signs everywhere. So we had to head right back to where […]
Mother Nature is shining on Texas vineyards this year. Thanks to a great Spring with no frost, just the right balance of moisture and low temperatures, Texas wine makers are enjoying a fantastic year.
Hi Y'all! It's been a while since my last post here at the Bliss Blog. For the past few months, I have been working on some exciting new developments and I can't wait to share them with my fellow wine lovers very soon!!!
So, you've misplaced your saber and now you're wondering how you're going to open that bottle of bubbly without shooting your eye out tonight. Here are 5 tips on popping the cork (and pouring) like a pro!
Our Senior Editor, Heidi Butzine was asked to be interviewed for Grape Encounters Radio with host David Wilson. Listen to the interview where she shares some of her own wine experiences, talks about her passion and provides inspiration for others to learn about wine.
For some, Earth Day means that they may clean their local beaches, get involved with a local tree planting, a habitat preservation society or drive to a fair of some kind to learn more about being green. Beyond these activities, you may want to take a look at some of the things you may already be doing to make an impact every day. You might be more eco-conscious than you think!
The wonderful pink salmon colors of this wine from the Rhone Valley add to its aesthetic appeal as a true French rosé. The first sniff reveals terroir notes of rocky mineral soils balanced with floral rose petal-like qualities. If you could smell a warm spring day in a wine this may be it.
Heidi Butzine, author and senior editor at Wineopolis Press, is going to do a little celebrating and it will certainly involve wine as this month marks the one-year anniversary of the Wineopolis® Wine-travel Guidebook series. Since releasing the first book on Amazon twelve months ago, Wineopolis has over 8,000 Facebook fans, a few hundred readers and now three guidebooks featuring Napa/Sonoma, Oregon and Temecula Valley with more on the way. Featuring the best of wine country– hand-picked by Heidi herself– the Wineopolis books are packed with winery reviews, wine-tasting tips, a wine journal and loads of info on restaurants, activities and local wine history. Heidi a self-proclaimed wine-loving entrepreneur business chick started Wineopolis Press with the vision of combining her 12 years of experience on the corporate and small business side with her passion for wine. "Luckily, with my professional background and the encouragement from friends, launching the business was the easy part. Now the hard part is trying to be patient as I watch it grow." Her inspiration to launch was sparked by a trip to Tuscany. "Seeing how food and good wine were enjoyed in Europe – as a way of life and a way to connect with […]
If you have ever started a business, launched a new venture or taken a new direction in life, it probably didn't feel exactly comfortable at first. Now imagine if you could actually bring out your inner risk-taker by kicking it up a notch and drawing a nude model? If you're feeling a little uneasy with this idea, that is partly what Jan McCarthy, head of Ladies Who Launch Los Angeles and Cyndi Finkle, owner of Art Works Studio had in mind for guests at their latest networking event which I was able to attend. Now, I must admit that this outside-of-my-comfort-zone concept was already working even when I signed up. Just the thought of me sitting in an art studio drawing something was different for me. The extent of my experience creating paintings or drawings pretty much peaked in grade school by putting crayon to paper and coloring within the lines. My head would surely explode smudging charcoal on an empty page but luckily Jan had paired a nice white wine to go along with the drawing experience that evening. Created specifically for women entrepreneurs and business launchers, Jan kicked off the event with the focus for the evening, "We […]
Part of our "Fun Ways to Taste Wine" series… I've always seen wine tasting as a form of therapy, so when I heard about a Group Therapy event hosted by South Coast Winery in Temecula, I had to see what it was all about. For those looking to get in touch with their inner wine geek, this online live-streaming event takes viewers through a guided wine tasting hosted by the winemakers. And the best part is you can taste along at home…
Read all about our wine tasting adventure on the rails to Santa Barbara wine country with Grape Encounters Radio. Part of our "Fun Ways to Taste Wine" series.
Even if you're not in Paris to celebrate Bastille Day, you can have your own Fête de la Bastille wherever you may be, with some great French wines! In France, Bastille Day is a national holiday to celebrate the storming of the Bastille – a medieval fortress-prison in Paris, symbolic of the harsh rule of the monarchy. Bastille Day represents the eventual fall of the monarchy and forming of a republic that is celebrated each year by the French with parades, military demonstrations, fireworks and beaucoup parties with wine bien sûr! Here are some of my favorite French wines that I especially enjoy in the summer and are perfect for serving at your own Fête de la Bastille this year. Champagne There's no better way to make any occasion special than drinking some bubbly – especially from the Champagne region. You'll have to spend a little extra for actual Champagne versus sparkling wine. Moët et Chandon, Piper Heidsick, Pommery and of course Dom Perignon are some of the more recognized Champagnes, but don't be afraid to try some of the other Champagne houses you haven't heard of before. Champagnes are priced based on their vineyard class (Grand Cru, Premier Cru, […]
Inspiration from the Old World can be seen and tasted at wineries today along Rancho California Road and the De Portola Wine Trail. Now the latest ode to the Old World is the recent opening of the tasting room at Europa Village – a milestone for what promises to become a premiere wine destination for Temecula wine country.
Wine drinkers seeking Bordeaux-style big red wines need look no further than Temecula to find them. Located just seven miles off the 15 Freeway, Wiens Family Cellars has been making wines of the Bordeaux variety here for the past six years. "Known for Big Reds," Wiens differentiates itself by concentrating on producing Bordeaux blends with big intense flavors, rich colors and long aging life to equal those of Napa and Sonoma.
As I sit here typing with purple fingers, I am pleased to report that I just bottled my very first batch of wine. 30 bottles of 2011 Pinot Noir from "chateau moi" are quietly resting in my garage wine cellar waiting to make a debut in a few months. This marks my first experiment as a garagiste winemaker. If you've ever thought about making your own wine at home or becoming a garagiste yourself, here are a few tips from my first experience.
As I sit here typing with purple fingers, I am pleased to report that I just bottled my very first batch of wine. 30 bottles of 2011 Pinot Noir from "chateau moi" are quietly resting in my garage wine cellar waiting to make a debut in a few months. This marks my first experiment as a garagiste winemaker. If you've ever thought about making your own wine at home or becoming a garagiste yourself, here are a few tips from my first experience.
As I sit here typing with purple fingers, I am pleased to report that I just bottled my very first batch of wine. 30 bottles of 2011 Pinot Noir from "chateau moi" are quietly resting in my garage wine cellar waiting to make a debut in a few months. This marks my first experiment as a garagiste winemaker. If you've ever thought about making your own wine at home or becoming a garagiste yourself, here are a few tips from my first experience.
As I sit here typing with purple fingers, I am pleased to report that I just bottled my very first batch of wine. 30 bottles of 2011 Pinot Noir from "chateau moi" are quietly resting in my garage wine cellar waiting to make a debut in a few months. This marks my first experiment as a garagiste winemaker. If you've ever thought about making your own wine at home or becoming a garagiste yourself, here are a few tips from my first experience.
As I sit here typing with purple fingers, I am pleased to report that I just bottled my very first batch of wine. 30 bottles of 2011 Pinot Noir from "chateau moi" are quietly resting in my garage wine cellar waiting to make a debut in a few months. This marks my first experiment as a garagiste winemaker. If you've ever thought about making your own wine at home or becoming a garagiste yourself, here are a few tips from my first experience.
It's finally here – bottling day. Time to get the wine into bottles and one step closer to my glass. With my repurposed clean wine bottles ready, I set up a small assembly line to fill the bottles and cork 'em. If you've ever thought about making your own wine at home or becoming a garagiste yourself, here are a few tips from my first experience.
In honor of the holiday season… We're sharing some of the cool gifts on our wish list for wineaux and wine geeks like us.
Dear Heidi: My wife and I are making our first trip to Napa this upcoming weekend. I was wondering if there is a 'must do or see' list for first timers?
Okay, I LOVE mushrooms, especially with a great Oregonian Pinot Noir. But, now these delectable little fungi are serving a higher purpose – in wine shipping.
Read this guest post by Bettie Infante about her trip to O'Brien Estate Winery in Napa Valley.
Our Senior Editor, Heidi Butzine was asked to be interviewed for the local live television program, Our Town Pasadena with host Jan McCarthy. Check out the appearance to learn some tips about why we swirl when we taste wine, how to choose a wine and what to do if you don't like the wine you ordered. PLUS, hear about some of the clues that can still be found around Pasadena which tell us about its wine history.
In honor of Oktoberfest, we thought we'd spend a little time talking about German wines. We know that this is a tradition celebrated with beer but we wanted to give the wines of Germany their time in the spotlight. Learn the top German grapes and how to remember all 13 wine regions.
The juice has arrived from Italy and we're getting our wine making lab ready to make our second annual garagiste wine.
Guest post by Bettie Infante. Our family is planning a trip to Italy in the spring. Not knowing anything about the wine regions in Italy, I decided to delve into learning about the diversity of the different wine regions, its terroir, varietals and styles. Italian wine is one of the most widely exported wines in the world with the U.S. being one of its largest importers. Italy's terrains, from lengthy coastlines to hilly slopes provide ideal vine-growing conditions. The abundant sunshine, sea breezes
Special thanks to The Wine Layman for his interview this month with our Senior Editor, Heidi Butzine. Says Heidi, "It was a pleasure to do this interview for The Wine Layman. Any time I get an opportunity to talk wine, of course I just love it. But it's even better when you can have fun with the questions."
The fourth annual Organic Wine Festival in China was held in the city of Wuwei known as "China's Wine City". The 2014 China-Hexi Corridor Organic Wine Festival was held on August 15-18. This event is hosted by Gansu Wine Industry Development Leading Group, Gansu Wine Industry Association and Wuwei Municipal People's Government and China Wine News. The goal of the event was to promote Chinese wine regions and Chinese wines unique characteristics. The Wine Festival was an international event, attracting wine professionals from around the world. It not only effectively enhanced the international image of Wuwei wines, but also played a substantial role in giving impetus to the local wine industry for integration into global wine industry and acceleration of development. Mr. Andreas Pierotic, Counsellor of Economic and Commercial Counsellor, Office of Chilean Embassy in China highly commended the wine event. Take advantage of this opportunity, he fully understand the local wine industry's development situation and characteristics, "Wuwei has a long wine history and great heritage, and this makes me very surprised."
Today at Wineopolis HQ we held a mini contest to find the best wine pairing for sushi. We're seriously in love with the whole intoxicating, zen-like experience of eating sushi — using your digits and chopsticks to eat, or feeling the retronasal burn of wasabi, and it's just so darn pretty to look at. Eating sushi recruits many of our senses just like enjoying wine. But choosing a wine for sushi isn't about deciding between a Merlot or Chardonnay. Serving a bold full-bodied red or big buttery white wine could totally take over a lovely delicate piece of sushi and you wouldn't want to deny your taste buds the blissful enjoyment of melt-in-your-mouth awesomeness that sushi brings. Sushi has a variety of different flavor components and textures. So finding a wine that plays well with the acidic vinegar of pickled ginger, is not too high in alcohol to make the heat of wasabi even hotter, and can stand up to the umami-ness in soy sauce can be a bit of a challenge. Our panel of judges was presented with salmon and tuna "tokyo rolls" — a sushi/roll hybrid. Inside the rolls was a sheet of nori (seaweed) and a small piece of: […]
It seems that everybody drinks wine today. This wasn't the case just 10 years ago. Maybe wine became popular thanks to Two Buck Chuck or just greater availability and greater variety, for whatever reason it makes us happy. The more people who drink wine the more wine that will be made and the greater the varieties will become. So, are you a typical American wine drinker? What types of wine do you prefer and where do you purchase your wine? How much do you spend on a bottle of wine in a restaurant? These and other questions are addressed in a new annual survey that researchers at Sonoma State University Wine Business Institute have recently designed. The online survey was launched in early 2014 with a total of 1028 wine consumers responding to the questions. The data was gathered by a third party market research firm supplying panel data of household wine consumers in America. All fifty states were represented, with more consumers responding from states with higher wine consumption rates. For example, 12 % of the sample were from California, 9% from Florida, 7% from New York and Illinois, and 6% from Texas. Demographics showed 49% male and 51% female respondents; 59% had […]
Flashpoint Batley: Anti-racism protesters hold rally against… Flair also analysed dozens of open letters published by alumnae of private schools who complained last year about racist abuse they had endured in schools and a lack of black role models among teachers. Nicholas Hewlett, head of St Dunstan's College private school in southeast London, said staff were worried by a 'righteous generation' of children who were looking for their teachers to 'trip up' on even 'small, persistent slights'. It marks the first time the island has full access to those funds. The announcement was made during Cardona´s official three-day trip to Puerto Rico, the first for a Biden administration Cabinet member. The teams' former medic, who is currently facing a fit-to-practise tribunal, paints a stark picture of the gold-medal factory across 66 pages of eye-opening claims within his written defence, which was disclosed over the weekend. The MD is manufactured by B-ON, and the company asserts that the device can measure a user's electrocardiogram (EKG) activity, blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen levels and body temperature, at a 95 percent rate accuracy. In the UK, the pandemic and a crackdown on immigration following Brexit contributed to unpredictable supplies of fruits, vegetables […]
Nicholas Hewlett, head of St Dunstan's College private school in southeast London, said staff were worried by a 'righteous generation' of children who were looking for their teachers to 'trip up' on even 'small, persistent slights'. "I encourage parents of teens in all states to talk to their teens and discourage them from sexting because even when sexting is consensual, those images are out of the control of the teens as soon as they have sent them," Davis said. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Monday that Puerto Rico will receive nearly $4 billion in federal education pandemic relief funds to help boost the U.S. territory´s fight against COVID-19. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – U.S. Flair also analysed dozens of open letters published by alumnae of private schools who complained last year about racist abuse they had endured in schools and a lack of black role models among teachers. Flashpoint Batley: Anti-racism protesters hold rally against… The teams' former medic, who is currently facing a fit-to-practise tribunal, paints a stark picture of the gold-medal factory across 66 pages of eye-opening claims within his written defence, which was disclosed over the weekend. As detailed by Sportsmail last week, the FA were […]


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Most noteworthy was his emphasis on Afghanistan as the principal subject of the upcoming meeting. It was noted that past and continuing actions by both countries in this respect centered on economic and developmental goals, to be achieved through "strategic partnership" agreements signed by each government with Afghanistan. While both agreements include the training of Afghan forces, the American agreement (signed on May 1st, 2012) commits Kabul to allow the U.S. access and use of Afghan facilities beyond 2014 for purposes of "targeting the remnants of al-Qaeda" and for security and defense cooperation over the long-term. The security concern was once again emphasized in his closing remarks.
Thus, despite Blake's focus on economic and scientific cooperation between India and the U.S., we see emerging a strong military and security theme, especially with regard to Afghanistan (a concern shared by the Indian Government). In his keynote address, Mr. Blake emphasizes Afghanistan's security, as do the agreements signed by New Delhi (last year) and Washington (this year) with Afghanistan. This should not surprise us. After all, Afghanistan is a country which, in the public mind and in our daily news, is identified with the 10-year war being waged there, primarily by American military forces.
It must be stressed, however, that this emphasis goes far beyond the need to ensure Afghanistan's stable and prosperous future. Indeed, its ramifications extend to Pakistan as well as Central Asia, and beyond that, to South and Southeast Asia. As Mr. Blake states in his concluding remarks, he feels encouraged by the progress made by the two governments towards broadening "our counter-terrorism and defense cooperation." The economic goals, moreover, are to be achieved through cooperation and integration, not only bilaterally, but also along broad geographical lines, encompassing essentially all of Asia.
One might be tempted to question this as an overly ambitious scope on the part of an assistant secretary, until we hear Defense Secretary Panetta's statement that the U.S. plans to increase its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Indeed, Blake goes on to praise India's "Look East Policy" and sees the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Myanmar in May and the signing of multiple agreements while there as an example of India "assuming a larger role in the broader Asia-Pacific." It should be noted, however, that while the Look East Policy has included recent attempts to develop economic relations with Singapore and the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN), it is a policy of long-standing, initiated in 1991, and may have little to do with the current American decision to militarize its presence in the entire Asia-Pacific region. Indeed, Mr. Panetta's announcement was almost immediately followed by a report in the Indian press that the Minister of Defense opposed India joining the U.S. "bandwagon" on the Asia-Pacific and that the U.S. ought to rethink this policy. But while some reports indicated that the Minister of Defense was in disagreement on this issue with the Indian Foreign Minister, other reports stated that Foreign Affairs Minister Krishna had told the Chinese Vice Premier at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit that "India's relations with China are a priority in India's foreign policy". This could be seen as directed to the U.S. Defense Secretary whose Asia-Pacific policy is widely thought to be aimed at China.
Mr. Panetta has also figured prominently in various Asian media because of comments about Pakistan. On June 7, while in New Delhi, he warned Islamabad that Washington is "losing patience" with the Government of Pakistan, for letting its territory be used as a safe haven for those who attack American and Afghan forces and then cross back into Pakistan. He singled out the Taliban and the Haqqani network. It is believed at the highest levels of the U.S. Government that this conduct reflects long-standing official policy by Islamabad. This is what has fueled Washington's anger with Pakistan. On top of that, the six-month blockade of NATO's military supply route into Afghanistan has brought American patience to a breaking point.
An important issue not raised by Mr. Blake is Iran, including the question of whether America's friends and/or interlocutors will yield to Washington's counsel or demand to impose sanctions on Iran or face U.S. sanctions. But there has been a reversal of this policy — in the case of India. If so, it is unlikely that China alone would be singled out for sanctions. Both countries are critically important to the U.S. for a variety of reasons, some similar, some quite different. Clearly, Washington thought it best to clear the air ahead of the Strategic Dialogue.
Moreover, as American economic power weakens, it negatively affects its political influence abroad. At a time when the economic crisis has become almost worldwide, and the U.S. is involved in numerous conflicts — open, quiet or covert — Washington can hardly afford to alienate a rising power like India, who has been a hesitant friend at best and whose economic relationship with the U.S. is not as healthy as the U.S. — or India for that matter — would like. Nor can the U.S. alienate powerful adversaries like China, who is already unhappy with the return — in a big way — of U.S. military power in the Asia-Pacific region. Perhaps the most important conflict of interest between Washington and Beijing may be building up in the South China Sea, where China has important economic and energy interests. With U.S. military commitments being quite extensive, and the Defense Department facing severe budget cuts, Washington can hardly afford to pick a big fight with China. It is therefore likely that the threat of sanctions against China will be quietly abandoned, now that India has been exempted. If not, we may expect the Asia-Pacific region to heat up considerably.


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JOHANNESBURG — Paying tribute to his personal hero, President Barack Obama met privately Saturday with Nelson Mandela's family as the world anxiously awaited news on the condition of the ailing 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader.
Obama, who has spoken movingly about Mandela throughout his trip to Africa, praised the former South African president's "moral courage" during remarks from the grand Union Buildings where Mandela was inaugurated as his nation's first black president.
Obama also called on the continent's leaders, including in neighboring Zimbabwe, to take stock of Mandela's willingness to put country before self and step down after one term despite his immense popularity.
"We as leaders occupy these spaces temporarily and we don't get so deluded that we think the fate of our country doesn't depend on how long we stay in office," Obama said during a news conference with South African President Jacob Zuma.
Obama's stop in South Africa marked the midway point of a weeklong trip to Africa, his most significant engagement with the continent since taking office in 2009.
His lack of personal attention on the region has frustrated some Africans who had high expectations for the first black American president and son of a Kenyan man.
Even with Mandela's health casting a shadow over his visit, Obama tried to keep focus on an agenda that includes deeper U.S. economic ties with Africa. The president dismissed suggestions that he was only investing personal capital on Africa's economy now as a response to the increased focus on the continent by China, India, Brazil and others.
"I want everybody playing in Africa," Obama said. "The more, the merrier."
But the president pointedly called on Africans to make sure that countries seeking an economic foothold on the continent are making a "good deal for Africa."
"If somebody says they want to come build something here, are they hiring African workers?" Obama said. "If somebody says that they want to help you develop your natural resources, how much of the money is staying in Africa? If they say that they're very interested in a certain industry, is the manufacturing and value-added done in Africa? "
Obama did not specifically mention China, but some African leaders have criticized Beijing for such behaviors.
Obama's focus on trade and business appeared to be well received in Africa, home to six of the world's 10 fastest-growing economies. The majority of the questions he received from the South African press and later at a town hall meeting with young African leaders focused on U.S. economic interests in the region.
Between his two events, Obama spent 30 minutes meeting privately with two of Mandela's daughters and several of his grandchildren at the former leader's foundation offices in Johannesburg. He also spoke by phone with Mandela's wife, Graça Machel, who remained by her husband's side at the Pretoria hospital where he has battled a lung infection for three weeks.
In a statement following the call, Machel said she drew strength from the Obama and his "touch of personal warmth."
Obama, who has met Mandela in person only once before, did not visit the former leader in the hospital out of respect for his family's wishes, the White House said. Ahead of his arrival in South Africa, the president had told reporters that he did not need "a photo-op" and didn't want to be obtrusive.
Obama ascent to the White House has drawn inevitable comparisons to Mandela. Both are their nations' first black presidents, symbols of racial barrier breaking and winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Zuma said Obama and Mandela "both carry the dreams of millions of people in Africa and in the diaspora who were previously oppressed." Zuma said Mandela's condition remained the same as it had in recent days — critical yet stable — though he expressed hope that Mandela soon would leave the hospital.
Later Saturday, Obama held a town hall with young people in Soweto, an area of Johannesburg that was the center of the youth-driven movement to fight against South Africa's apartheid government. At least 176 young people were killed there 27 years ago this month during a youth protest against the white government's ban against teaching local Bantu languages. The Soweto Uprising catalyzed international support against apartheid, and June is now recognized as Youth Month in South Africa.
Outside the event, protesters under police watch demonstrated outside the university against Obama's record on surveillance and foreign policy. Protesters from a range of trade unions and civil society groups chanted, "Away with intelligence, away," holding posters depicting Obama with an Adolf Hitler moustache.
In Africa, where some governments struggle with corruption, Obama has made it a priority to promote civic activism among young people and invest in their development. He hosted young leaders from more than 40 African countries at the White House in 2010 and announced plans during the event to expand the program.
About 600 youth leaders from South Africa attended the town hall, with other young people participating via video conference from Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland.
Kenya's current political environment made it impossible for Obama to visit the country where many of his relatives live. The International Criminal Court is prosecuting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta for crimes against humanity, including murder, deportation, rape, persecution and inhumane acts allegedly committed by his supporters in the aftermath of Kenya's 2007 elections.
"The timing was not right for me as the president of the United States to be visiting Kenya when those issues are still being worked on, and hopefully at some point resolved," said Obama, though he added that he planned to make many more trips to the East African nation.
The president planned to stop in Cape Town on Sunday and visit Robben Island, the prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in jail. Obama will close his trip with a visit to Tanzania.
Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler and AP Video Journalist Bram Janssen contributed to this report.
Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC


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These 5 fall broadcast TV frosh fail to impress
NEW YORK (AP) — While the new broadcast season will bring many potential delights, a handful of fall entries fall far short. Fair warning from a critic looking out for you:
— "STALKER" (CBS, premieres Oct. 1). Violence Porn packaged as crime drama. Maggie Q and Dylan McDermott co-star in what's billed as a "psychological thriller" about the Threat Assessment Unit of the LAPD. The cases that this pair of detectives investigates include voyeurism, cyber harassment and romantic fixation, which, of course, only fetishizes such depravity-of-the-week as each episode goes through the motions of condemning it. Item: The first episode begins with a screaming woman burned alive in her car by her stalker. Series creator Kevin Williamson has responded to criticism by saying if viewers think "Stalker" crosses the line, they should "change the channel." Exactly. Before the show starts.
— "A TO Z" (NBC, Oct. 2). Girl meets guy. Tedium results. A rom-com whose stars (Cristin Milioti and Ben Feldman) are stuck in a gimmicky format: a "comprehensive account" of their nearly 9-month dating relationship, as we are told at the top of the show, "from A to Z." Together, they spell "lack of chemistry." Alphabet this show won't last long.
— "MULANEY" (Fox, Oct. 5). It's a comedy starring stand-up comic John Mulaney as a stand-up comic named John. Clearly, this show is just dying to be the next "Seinfeld." But problems block the way: "Seinfeld" was done, for all times, a quarter-century ago; Mulaney is no Jerry Seinfeld; there's no Larry David mojo. Plus "Mulaney" isn't funny.
— "CRISTELA" (ABC, Oct. 10). Standup comic Cristela Alonzo stars in a family sitcom based on her life and Mexican-American heritage. She's working multiple jobs as she plods through law school and resides in a dizzy household with her sister, brother-in-law, their two kids and her mother. Zingers fly and stereotypes rule. You've seen it all before. Why begin again?
— "STATE OF AFFAIRS" (NBC, Nov. 17). The good news for this new drama: It isn't likely to be the first fall series to be canceled. With its belated premiere date, at least one other dud should have fallen by the wayside by the time it arrives. In other hands, the basic idea might have made a good show. A daily briefing paper is prepared for the president listing the most urgent security issues as judged by a group of CIA analysts. But on "State of Affairs," that all-important team is led by "Grey's Anatomy" expat Katherine Heigl who, to make matters even more laughable, reports for work at 2 a.m. after having drunkenly bedded a guy she met at a bar just a few hours earlier. As president, the fine actress Alfre Woodard is stuck with leading the country while not succumbing to this dramatic poppycock. It's a losing proposition. Count "State of Affairs" among the fall's funniest new comedies, however unintentionally and short-lived.


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Dr. Seuss classics to be released digitally
From the ASSOCIATED PRESS:
Make that the e-Cat in the Hat.
Dozens of Dr. Seuss classics, including "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham," will be available this fall for the first time as e-books. Random House Children's Books announced Wednesday that the first 15 will come out Sept. 24, followed by additional publications in October and November.
Other Seuss picture books coming out electronically include "Fox in Socks," "Horton Hears a Who!" and "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"
-- Lost Dr. Seuss stories published in "Bippolo Seed" collection


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(This post is a continuation of Healers Have To Die and the PvP Addon Arms Race, my defense of the controversial PvP addon Healers Have To Die (HHTD). You may want to revisit my arguments in that post before reading.)
Despite my best efforts to get healers to take the initiative, I don't see many yells for assistance in the battlegrounds. And leveling two healers through PvP right now, I understand why – when I'm getting focus fired, I have about 1 second to switch over and start spamming heals onto myself before I'm dead. The last thing I want to do is to bang the Help Me! macro, which is kinda out of the way, when I really want to cast Nature's Swiftness or Power Word: Shield to buy myself time.
It's okay. I should probably macro yells for help into my panic button; I'm still amazed at how effective SaySapped is at telling other players what's going on. But I keep forgetting to do this because I have a much better personal solution: Healers Have to Die.
Healers Have to Die is the single best addon I have used to protect friendly healers in a battleground, bar none. I am not kidding here. It may be a valuable tool for DPS in PvP to help identify enemy healers, but where I'm discovering it really shines is by identifying friendly healers, marking them, and – most important of all – notifying you when they are under attack.
I wished for another addon called Healers Have To Live. I got it in Healers Have To Die.
Take a look at the screen at the top of this post. This is my level 70 warrior twink, Ashwalker, fighting at Iceblood Graveyard in Alterac Valley. The camera is zoomed way out so I can see everything around me, but I can't see details like what kind of clothes people are wearing or even really casting without UI assistance.
You'll hopefully notice the large blue cross in the screen. This is a friendly healer that HHTD has detected. HHTD looks for specific spells that are usually only cast by healing specs, so it doesn't get fooled by a Feral Druid casting Rejuvenation – it picks up the real healers.
When a healer shows up in a scrum, I know it now. Enemy healers, friendly healers – they're all visually represented in a way which makes me know who to protect at all costs – no guesswork.
But that's just the first part of HHTD's defense.
When HHTD detects that a friendly healer is getting attacked, it lets you know in BIG HUGE LETTERS across your screen. It tells you which healer is getting attacked, and by whom.
Oh yeah, it spits out warnings in your chat window, too, in case you aren't looking at the top of your screen.
And it does all this by default.
If there is one addon I absolutely want my BG team to be running, it's HHTD. Not only for finding opposing healers – I want it for that – but also because it increases everyone's situational awareness to come to the defense of friendly healers.
How would you not want that?
Let's try a little test. Click on the picture above to view it at a bigger size, look at it for 2 seconds – be honest here – and then close it and come back to reading. Go ahead, I'll wait.
All done? Good. Pop quiz time, then. Without looking, which healer was being attacked, the top one or the bottom one?
I'll wager that a good number of you actually will get this right, and pick the healer near the bottom of the screen. But it's not easy; Beamz's nameplate is obscured, while Ranting's is not.
Now, let's be really honest here – how many of you would have known that Beamz was getting attacked at all, had it not been for the HHTD warning?
I know I wouldn't have. Unless I saw a mob right on his face, I'd assume that he was fine and dandy, surrounded by people who could take care of him.
To be honest, if I didn't have HHTD, I wouldn't have known he was even there, let alone that he needed help. There are 12 friendly players and 3 friendly pets on the screen. HHTD makes my own healers stand out.
One of the biggest challenges in getting people to use HHTD to its full potential is that DPS generally don't run with friendly nameplates on, therefore they'll never see that a healer is in trouble.
I use Tidy Plates, combined with Threat Plates for PvE, to help manage my friendly nameplates.
Tidy Plates allows you to automate the display of your nameplates based on your combat state, so you don't have to walk around Stormwind or Orgrimmar with huge crowds of glowing nameplates blocking your view. By selecting the "Show during Combat, Hide when Combat ends" option, friendly plates smoothy come up in combat, and disappear when I leave. It's really slick.
The second part of my setup is HHTD itself:
Here is the HHTD basic configuration tab. The configuration is relatively straightforward, but you'll want to make sure that:
- Protect friendly healers is On. Seriously, why would you have this off?
- Set friendly healer's role is On. If you're the BG leader and you spot a healer who didn't mark themselves as such, this sets it for you.
- Announcer and Name Plate Hooker are both On.
These are the default settings. I can't emphasize that enough, you don't have to do anything but install HHTD to get it to start working to protect healers.
Healers are your friends. It doesn't matter if they have a funny name, or are from a different server – all healers are your friends. Don't abandon them to the rogues.
Get HHTD so your friends can live.
I see a lot of assumptions made in the forums when HHTD comes up, usually made by people who haven't really looked into the addon, let alone tried it to see how it works. But even when you try it out, you might have some misconceptions about how it works.
- HHTD only modifies name plates; it doesn't set raid markers or share information with other players. HHTD's crosses are only visible to those people running the addon. It's not like AVR, which shared information with other clients to modify the game world. It's not setting BG-wide markings on your healers. It is hooking into nameplates and modifying them if someone casts a specific type of spell, NOT communicating that info across clients.
- HHTD doesn't target other players or cast any spells. Whenever I see an argument saying that HHTD does this, I wonder what addon they tried out, because that addon sounds much better than the one I'm using.
- HHTD is pretty tough to fool. This is one I'm guilty of believing wasn't true – thinking that I could get a cross over my head as a Feral Druid casting some healing spells. It's wrong. The lua code looks for spells that only healing-spec healers use, or a certain amount of healing from the base spells. It's actually easier to fool people than it is the addon, just because if you have a big mana pool and are standing in the back casting sparkly healing spells, folks probably aren't going to check to make sure that it's Resto, not Elemental.
- HHTD detects friendly healers. Now you know just how good of a job it does.
I wrote my original defense of HHTD still struggling with the Healers Have to Live concept. At the time, I thought its absence was a weakness in the addon, but it really was a deficiency in my understanding of it. In the subsequent months, I've come to explore and appreciate how much better I can be as a PvPer by understanding where my own healers are, no matter how crazy things are getting.
Healers Have to Die is an excellent PvP addon, and I fully recommend it. Not only will it help you find enemy healers, it will help you defend your own teammates better.


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We All Need Support Sometimes: Caregivers Share Tips for Caregetting
As a caregiver, it can be easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you need to do it all. After all, your loved one is looking to you to help them manage a chronic disease and, depending on the severity of your loved one's health challenges, their care may involve significant time and activity. Caregivers may become completely focused on being caregivers, and rarely or never on being caregetters.
Finding and accepting support can be difficult. You may feel uncomfortable trusting another person to be responsible for your loved one's care, feel obligated or expected to be available 24/7, or simply be used to being the go-to person. But help can take some of the weight off your shoulders, give you some time to refresh your mental, emotional and physical reserves, and ultimately enhance your relationships with both yourself and your loved one.
We spoke to caregivers in a variety of situations to hear their thoughts on finding caregiving support. Here is what we learned:
People want to help, but they might not know how
Cynthia shares, "I learned about a website called www.lotsahelpinghands.com. It's a calendar where people can sign up to provide help for patients and caregivers dealing with a chronic illness. Since my partner was diagnosed, a lot of people have asked what they can do to help. I ask them to sign up on the site. It allows me to have options for different types of help, but I can choose from people I know." If you don't have Internet access, you can make a list of tasks that would be helpful and ask a friend or relative to coordinate volunteers.
Accept help — from your loved one
Remember that before PH, your loved one was probably used to giving as well as receiving support. The loss of this role can be difficult for patients — and sometimes unnecessary. One patient told us, "Sometimes I think my wife believes PH has affected my brain … actually, my brain is the healthiest part of me now, and I really want to be asked to use it." While you may not be comfortable talking to your loved one about the frustrations you may feel about your role as a caregiver, don't forget that they still want to be there for you in any capacity they are able to.
Additionally, it's important that your loved one be prepared if the unexpected happens. "I have created a complete step-by-step direction pamphlet that I leave in my husband's medication supply kit. He also has a card in his wallet that lists all his medications in case he is ever alone and has an emergency and needs help from the EMTs," Diane told us. "I can give him the gift of caregiving, but I also want him to be able to take care of himself."
Make a space for yourself
"I've been seeing a therapist since my partner got diagnosed, to help me cope with our 'new normal,'" says Cynthia. "I feel that talking to a therapist is a way of standing up for myself. It helps me to cope with my partner's expectations and to work on also taking care of myself."
The small stuff counts
Sometimes, just having someone acknowledge your efforts as a caregiver can help. "Personally, I love it when someone comes in the house and just asks me how I am," says Diane. Nancy agrees, "It means the world to me to have someone actually ask me 'how are you doing?' To know that someone is concerned for you is huge." You can reinforce this by thanking the people who take the time to ask how you are. If you're feeling forgotten, call a friend or family member who you're close to and let them know that you need someone to lean on or talk to for half an hour from time to time. Don't be ashamed to ask for support.
"Rethink your family budget in terms of how much you 'spend' when doing chores. If your time is more valuable (per hour) than what you'd pay someone to clean your house, grocery shop, do yardwork or other chores, try to find room in your monthly budget to pay them and free up your time for things you cannot pay someone else to do," suggested a male caregiver who participated in PHA's Family and Friends survey.
Joe, another male caregiver, adds, "We now pay two ladies who clean our house, but they are the only people who I pay. It's also good therapy for my wife to talk to them, and they have become another support system."
If needed, provide training
Look for others who can help you with medical tasks such as mixing medications. "I would like to know if there could be training for in-home care. It's very scary to know that I am the only one who knows how to handle my mom's condition," says Nancy. Many specialty pharmacies will send a nurse out to train caregivers at home; if you have friends or family willing to help you with your loved one's medication, see if you can schedule a "training date" for them. Similarly, if you have a local support group, see if a specialty pharmacy nurse can run a training session for the group and bring your "caregiver volunteers" to the session so they can learn with you.
Reach out if you don't have local support. Cynthia told us, "Initially, the isolation, I think, was the hardest thing. Then my partner and I found a support group in the Boston area." Cynthia advises, "Keep your social connections open; just because someone in your life has a chronic illness doesn't mean you have to close off your social life."
Long-distance support counts, too
"My out-of-town family sends me gift cards to restaurants to help me with meals," says Joe. "Other members of my family bought Dream Dinners services for me. You order your meals and they send them to you with an instruction card. When the meals arrived, my family got together like a party and put the meals together."
The benefits of caregiving support are as many and varied as the types of support. Getting help with something as basic as household chores can contribute to your emotional well-being and sense of communal support. "I'm lucky because my family volunteered; their help freed up my time to do other things," shares Joe. "It gave me time to go fishing and take time for myself. Because of them, I never feel alone or like I'm stuck."
Special thanks to each caregiver who contributed to this story. Thanks as well to Allyson Rupp, LCSW, of the Vera Moulton Wall Center for Pulmonary Vascular Disease at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, for input on support opportunities.
This article first appeared in Pathlight Summer 2012.


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Heather Graham returns to 'Hangover'
It was with the release of "Boogie Nights," in 1997, that Heather Graham became everybody's favorite porn star with a heart of old. No, not actually Graham, but her character in that film, Rollergirl.
The blond-haired, blue-eyed actress had been around the Hollywood scene for some time already, with parts in "Drugstore Cowboy" and "Swingers," as well as an ongoing role on the oddball TV show "Twin Peaks." But it was "Boogie Nights" that pushed her to the next level, part of which is her current film, "The Hangover Part III." She returns as Jade, the stripper with the heart of gold who married Ed Helms' character in "The Hangover." She spoke about her career last week in Las Vegas.
Is it true that you were called a theater geek in high school?
Oh, for sure. I was in these advance placement classes, so I was kind of nerdy, and I was in theater. And back then theater wasn't seen as cool. I lived in the suburbs where it was only cool to be a jock or a cheerleader. So at that time I felt shy and awkward, but now I've really embraced my nerdiness, and I'm proud of it.
Did you always have dreams of acting?
Oh, yeah. I loved being in the plays at school. I felt that it was what I was good at. I was always playing games of dress-up and pretending to be in different stories with my sister and my friends. So that was a version of acting. But the first time I actually felt like I got some sort of recognition was when I was 9 or 10, and I was cast as Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz."
How did "Boogie Nights" change your life?
Drastically! I had just done "Swingers," and I was still auditioning, trying to get work, struggling to get jobs. I've always been lucky; I've worked as an actress since I started. But "Boogie Nights" made it so much easier. I was suddenly being offered wonderful parts. I suddenly stopped having to audition. That was amazing.
So how did "The Hangover" happen?
It was an audition! (laughs) My manager sent me the script, and it was really good. [Director] Todd Phillips was already well known for directing "Old School," so it was fun to get to go in on "The Hangover." I loved the script and the part, so it was really cool that he cast me.
Todd recently said that he liked the way you brought a hippie quality to Jade.
Well, I didn't want her to be a sleazy stripper that was completely devoid of a soul. I'd taken a lot of female empowerment classes. So I thought of looking at being a stripper from a different point of view. Obviously Jade needs to make the money. She's supporting her kid, and that's why she's doing it. But she's also a kind of slightly confused person who's trying to find a way to feel good about herself and her sexuality, and make money. So I was coming at being a stripper from more of a hippie viewpoint than just like a really dark, sad viewpoint.
You weren't in "The Hangover Part II." How did "Part III" happen?
It was really cool. Todd emailed me and said they were going to write me into this one. My response was, "Yay, exclamation point, exclamation point." Of course I wanted to read the script first, and I did. But I was so happy and excited that he wanted to bring Jade back. And I was very grateful to him for giving my character a happy ending. He could have gone dark with it, but instead he gave her this sweet life that she's always dreamed of.
"The Hangover Part II" opens on May 23.
Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now.


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New research indicates that domestic horses originated in the steppes of modern-day Ukraine, southwest Russia and west Kazakhstan, mixing with local wild stocks as they spread throughout Europe and Asia. The research was published today, 07 May, in the journal PNAS.ScienceNOW also covers the new research, and reports on a contrasting viewpoint:
For several decades scientists puzzled over the origin of domesticated horses. Based on archaeological evidence, it had long been thought that horse domestication originated in the western part of the Eurasian Steppe (Ukraine, southwest Russia and west Kazakhstan); however, a single origin in a geographically restricted area appeared at odds with the large number of female lineages in the domestic horse gene pool, commonly thought to reflect multiple domestication "events" across a wide geographic area.
In order to solve the perplexing history of the domestic horse, scientists from the University of Cambridge used a genetic database of more than 300 horses sampled from across the Eurasian Steppe to run a number of different modelling scenarios.
Their research shows that the extinct wild ancestor of domestic horses, Equus ferus, expanded out of East Asia approximately 160,000 years ago. They were also able to demonstrate that Equus ferus was domesticated in the western Eurasian Steppe, and that herds were repeatedly restocked with wild horses as they spread across Eurasia.
Not all researchers are convinced, however. Archaeologist Marsha Levine of the University of Cambridge thinks using modern genetic samples to retrace horses' evolution is a dead end. "There's been mixing of cultures and mixing of horses in this region for many thousands of years," she says. "And so when you're looking at any modern horse, you just don't know where it's from."I agree with the idea that ancient DNA will ultimately confirm/reject the model presented in the paper. Of course, it may be the case that the west Eurasian steppe was the place where horse domestication happened, but it is also the place where local horses may be descended from European, West Asian, and Central Asian breeds. I'll have to read the paper to see how the problem of possible admixture between western and eastern horse breeds on the steppe is accounted for in the paper.
Bringing together many kinds of evidence is what will ultimately answer the whens and wheres of horse domestication, Levine says. "What we need to be doing is using material from excavations, sequencing ancient genes, and combining that with what we know from archaeological evidence about how animals were used in the past."
PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1111122109
Reconstructing the origin and spread of horse domestication in the Eurasian steppe
Vera Warmuth et al.
Despite decades of research across multiple disciplines, the early history of horse domestication remains poorly understood. On the basis of current evidence from archaeology, mitochondrial DNA, and Y-chromosomal sequencing, a number of different domestication scenarios have been proposed, ranging from the spread of domestic horses out of a restricted primary area of domestication to the domestication of numerous distinct wild horse populations. In this paper, we reconstruct both the population genetic structure of the extinct wild progenitor of domestic horses, Equus ferus, and the origin and spread of horse domestication in the Eurasian steppes by fitting a spatially explicit stepping-stone model to genotype data from >300 horses sampled across northern Eurasia. We find strong evidence for an expansion of E. ferus out of eastern Eurasia about 160 kya, likely reflecting the colonization of Eurasia by this species. Our best-fitting scenario further suggests that horse domestication originated in the western part of the Eurasian steppe and that domestic herds were repeatedly restocked with local wild horses as they spread out of this area. By showing that horse domestication was initiated in the western Eurasian steppe and that the spread of domestic herds across Eurasia involved extensive introgression from the wild, the scenario of horse domestication proposed here unites evidence from archaeology, mitochondrial DNA, and Y-chromosomal DNA.


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LONGMONT — Luke Turner, 3, pointed to a chair in the living room of his Longmont home on Friday morning and played the host.
"Come visit," he called out in a clear voice.
The last time his mother saw him in July he was just starting to get this whole talking thing down. Now he is a pro, happily chattering about this and that and offering big facial expressions along with his thoughts.
Luke was returned to his mother on Thursday night after Longmont police tracked him to his paternal grandparents' property in Akron in Washington County, according to police.
Brandy Turner has been looking for Luke since her husband, Monty Turner, took the boy and left town with him on July 2, according to police. The family's search included a Facebook community with more than 9,100 followers and a profile with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said detectives Tori Bellah and Bruce Wittich led the police-based search for Luke, although Monty Turner is not currently facing any criminal charges in Luke's disappearance.
Brandy Turner said the law does not sufficiently protect children and parents in cases of parental kidnapping.
"That is really going to be one of my crusades," she said on Friday, while relaxing in her home with Luke and her 16-year-old daughter, Ashlea McMahel.
She said she is grateful for the help from the police, especially given that Luke's disappearance was not considered to be a criminal investigation.
"I am so thankful for the Longmont police. They were wonderful. They never gave up," she said. Washington County Deputy Christopher Marston said three deputies served a search warrant on Monty Turner's parents' farm property at about 4 p.m. on Thursday and searched for about two hours before locating the father and son hiding under carpet padding in a box truck parked on the property."When we went to open the door we heard some movement inside the truck and so we knew there was either something or someone in the truck," Marston said.
Longmont Police Jeff Satur said on Friday that detectives tracked the boy for months and used surveillance and other investigative techniques to locate them.
"They did a great job," he said.
Brandy Turner announced Luke's recovery on Facebook shortly after he was returned home. She and Bellah drove to Washington County on Thursday night to pick up the boy, who remembered his mother immediately and came home to a belated Christmas and birthday celebration.
She said she waited to hear from police as they searched the property. Then the call came. She said Bellah told her, "We got him!"
"It was just all I have been waiting for," she said. "I will never forget it. I was preparing myself for a let down, that they go away again."
But she went and retrieved her son and he was talking and happy.
"It is very surreal. It is almost like a dream," she said.He's bigger than he was in July, too, Brandy Turner said. He now wears 3T sized clothing, and much of his wardrobe at home was 2T. That meant a trip to Walmart on Friday morning for the family.
She said Luke slept soundly through the night and has been apparently unaffected by the drama that has surrounded him in the past 24 hours.
"He hasn't cried or anything," she said.
He asked once if he was going to see his daddy, and Brandy Turner said she expects more questions along those lines.
"Before he left, daddy was his hero," she said. "I can't imagine that changed."
She said she thinks her estranged husband took Luke for fear she would leave the state with him given problems in the marriage, but she said she had and has no such plans.
Brandy Turner is planning to ask the courts to make a temporary restraining order against Monty Turner permanent and said the future of the family's relationship will be determined through divorce and custody proceedings.
Pierrette J. Shields can be reached at 303-684-5273 or at email@example.com.